


Reunited Yet More Distant Than Ever

by webshop



Category: Community
Genre: Ableist Language, Angst and Feels, Bisexual Abed Nadir, Bisexual Jeff Winger, Exploring Sexuality, M/M, Neurodiverse study group, Queer Themes, Troy comes back, gay troy barnes, he/they pronouns for abed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28556763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webshop/pseuds/webshop
Summary: Abed has lived in LA for almost 3 years, successful, financially independent, and openly gay. Troy returns to disrupt his new life, change can be good but is that always the case? Reunion might take a turn for the worse. Rings, bad comedies and even worse communication.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Original Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Lost in Hollywood

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by the lovely catgirlabigail on twitt, we made a bit of a thread. full of angst, some fluff but not really. also a lot of abed jeff friendship. Establishing some things that may not be mentioned but implied I guess. Jeff is bisexual and dating Britta but theyre in an open relationship. Abed is trans masc nb so I use he and they pronouns interchangeably for them. Also, Abed is on anti psychotics and anxiety meds, important to know for his character and how he acts sometimes. Warning for discussion of mental illness, alcohol abuse and bad relationships.

Time used to be so arbitrary to Abed Nadir, he used to measure his college years as show seasons and would often forget the year; although he attributed that to his dyscalculia. It was different now, at least that was what he told himself, he had been in therapy and learned other coping techniques to deal with extreme situations. 

A lot had changed since he had left Greendale, well not that much. He was still himself, just more comfortable with himself. He had spent so long masking himself with TV and movies, his psychiatrist suggested that Abed felt like his identity wasn't wanted. At times, Abed thought about this, not accepting or denying it. 

One of the quickest ways Abed learned to meet people was to adapt to their presence, staying in character to get along and exploring life through that lens. But he had also established that pop culture (specifically movie tropes and character archetypes, inspector spacetime, and filming), was his main Interest, or as Annie called it, his Special interest. 

Abed had established his identity after working at scripting, directing, even acting, for 35 months. Almost three years. He was independent, financially stable and alone. LA had many people, Abed knew a lot of them. Mostly from ending up at bars after interviews and being dragged along by his co-workers, he had always enjoyed socialization but as he integrated into LA he started to thoroughly enjoy it. 

The queer community was incredible, he was publicly open about his bisexuality and being non-binary, but it was amazing to find a group that you could connect with. He dated and had sex, he went on vacation and bought movies for $3 at a thrift store. He did all the things that were meant to fill your life with joy, yet he felt like something was missing. 

That took him to the present, Jeff and Abed were having their biweekly coffee session while walking on the boardwalk. Jeff had moved to Southern California a few months ago after Annie left Colorado to take an offer in Virginia. Jeff was still teaching, just now with more off time and at College with better pay. The two had stopped at a bench to sit and watch the waves.

“Abed, just because you sleep around and have some nerdy status, doesn’t mean I want relationship advice from you!” Jeff had been courting the forensic anthropology professor for the past 4 days, he claimed that it was too early to make a move but Abed felt different. 

“I was just pointing out that if he is an anthropologist, he knows about various courting rituals. Plus the professor slash professor trope is loaded with secrecy, forbidden contact and is covered up with friendly interactions.” Abed cocked his head to look at his friend for a few seconds, before returning his eyes back to the wood his feet were resting on. “I think you should stop by his office after hours with something to drink and an excuse to talk.” He continued providing his unasked for advice. 

Jeff snorted and rubbed his hand over his jaw “Real life relationships don’t work like that, remember what happened last time I took your advice about relationships?” 

Abed remembered too well, they were at an open air film reveal, in which one of Abed’s recent documentaries would be released. Jeff had gotten his eyes on Abed’s manager's assistant, and he was very interested. Abed suggested that Jeff should be up front but that just resulted in Jeff getting slapped. 

“Yes, but to be fair, I don't think you were his type.” Abed sighed softly and examined the sticker on his coffee cup, his long nails circling the edges. “If you don’t want to talk about your professor crush, then I can respect that.” 

“We can talk about your love life, especially since it’s been almost two months since you’ve gotten laid.” Jeff poked Abed’s shoulder, not crossing over the line of contact. 

Abed groaned and ripped a bit of the sticker off on his cup, it stuck to his finger nail in an uncomfortable manner “It’s been a month and 13 days, that's arguable not that long when you compare it to average rates. I have been busy, I am working, and I don’t want to spend my energy on a hook up. It’s not important.” 

“Right, it doesn’t have to do with the fact that Troy left three years ago soon. Last year you did the same thing buddy, I know you better than you think.” Jeff hesitated to set his hand on Abed’s wrist, which was frantically picking at his cup again.

“No, it doesnt.” Abed picking became more frantic, when Jeff touched him, he stopped and clenched his fist. 

Jeff removed his hand and pulled out his phone, after some scrolling he showed his phone screen to the younger man “He texted me a few days ago, asking if you were still in town…”

Abed’s mouth twitched, he cocked his head to the side and led out a slow breath. “He texted you.” He shook his head “No, That doesn’t make sense, Jeff.”

“Hey, how are you feeling about this? I told him you were, but I can tell him you don’t want to see him..” Jeff slipped his phone away, so he could focus on Abed.

“Uncomfortable, and a bit panicked. Don’t text him, I just don’t know how to respond, I haven’t planned for this…” Abed set his coffee cup down with a shaky hand and rubbed his face. 

“Okay, how about we head back to your car, and I’ll drive you home, we don’t need to talk about this right now if it’s too much.” Jeff watched Abed process the information before nodding, his silence telling Jeff that it was going to be a very quiet ride. 

(It was) 

Jeff let Abed choose the music, although he expected that Abed would just put on System of a Down or his typical riled up playlist. Instead, they were listening to David Bowie. Jeff and Abed shared a lot of music, as they followed each other on Spotify and made a collaboration playlist. They had also often discussed how Bowie was Jeff’s introduction to queer men and how he was Abed’s introduction to theatrical music and visual presentation, plus his role in the Labyrinth was… interesting. 

Abed finally spoke, slightly louder than the music but still quiet “Reunion scenes are always emotionally uprooting, I don’t have the capacity for that right now. I’ve spent the last few months focused purely on Color Wheel, not willing to take my mental health or my emotions into account. I don’t want to mess this up because I let another relationship come in the way of my work.” 

Jeff quickly glanced at his friend before turning his eyes back to the road “Abed, this isn’t just any relationship. This is Troy, running away from your feelings won't solve them-”

“It’s worked so far!” Abed’s voice much louder now, and his pitch had changed clearly signifying his distress. 

“I know,” Jeff kept his voice calm and reassuring, Abed opening up loudly was better than him keeping it balled up inside. “Your clone arrangement with Troy was only supposed to be a temporary solution, I know that this is hard, but I think seeing him again will be good. And hey, if it’s not, you don’t have to see him again, and you can go back to your movie”

Abed stayed quiet, staring out the window at the sky which was slowly turning darker as the sun set. “What if he’s changed, or he doesn’t like who I have become. I mean we never discussed our relationship or my queerness or his obsession with masculinity or anything. Jeff, I have changed and what if it’s in a way that he doesn’t want to see.” 

Jeff understood Abed’s worries, they had experienced their fair share of homophobia from people they had thought were friends and Jeff knew that one of the reasons they left Colorado was to get away from the bigotry and have the ability to express themselves. 

But Jeff couldn’t let that be the reason Abed ignored Troy. “Abed, I’m telling you as one bisexual to another, as someone who helped Troy find himself in masculinity, Troy will love you no matter who you are.” He pulled into Abed’s driveway and turned the keys, switching off the engine. 

They sat in the dark car for a few seconds before Abed abruptly got out, storming to his front door. 

Jeff sighed, pulling the keys out of the ignition and then followed his friend. Abed had forgotten that Jeff had their keys, but was quickly distracted by the yellow envelope wedged slightly under his door. 

By the time Jeff had unlocked the front door, Abed had ripped opened the envelope and scanned his eyes over the first line. 

“It’s from Troy.” Abed gave the letter to Jeff “I’m going to make tea, will you read it and then tell me if its good or bad.” Stepping into the house and quickly heading towards the kitchen. Jeff followed him after closing and locking the door, his eyes scanning over the letters on the paper. 

By the time Jeff had reached the kitchen, Abed had taken a pitcher of ice tea out of the fridge and poured them two drinks, and he was already gulping down his own. “Scotch?” Jeff asked, Abed hummed and took the glass bottle out of the liquor cabinet that Jeff knew too well. 

“I think the letter could be read as ambiguous, it’s not bad but uh, you should just read it.” Jeff handed him the folded note and took his glass filled with the amber liquid. 

Abed took the last sip and set the glass down loudly. “Abed, hey buddy, how have you been?” He read the first line and his voice hitched “I’m sorry for not staying in contact, I know Annie kept you updated, but I decided that if I wanted to discover myself, then I had to let go of what was holding me back. It’s been a while, three years soon, I bet you counted the days, maybe we could meet up and talk. I saw a lot of advertisement for your movies when we were in Japan, I’m so proud of you. Regards, Troy.” 

Abed set the paper down and blankly stared at the wall, he wasn’t sure what to feel. Troy wanted to meet them, they were holding Troy back, he was proud of them? It all felt unreal.

“Here, I’ll send you his number, and you can decide what to do with it. Let’s not think about that now.” Jeff slipped his phone away as Abed’s dinged. Before he could grab it, Jeff took his arm and the bottle of scotch and pulled him to the cinema room. 

Jeff poured himself another glass while Abed sipped on another glass of tea, one hand on the glass and the other on the remote. He surfed through Hulu until he found a comedy that was rated 2 stars. Critiquing movies with Jeff always distracted him. 

They settled on Behaving Badly, the description seemed stupid enough to make it somewhat interesting despite its horrible rating. 

“Don’t mind me.” Jeff hummed as the movie started, he was already pouring himself his third glass.

Halfway through the movie, Jeff had already dozed off, his scotch induced haze made him pass out whenever they watched movies. It made Abed think of how he was glad he couldn't drink, or he would be using it just like Jeff. Abed pulled out his phone. He copied the number that Jeff sent him and then sent a text.

Abed: hello it’s abed is this troy? 

Unknown is typing…

Unknown: Holy shit!! Yeah man!!

Abed: jeff gave me yr #

Troy: Nice! Are you two hanging out? 

Abed: i guess u could call it that, he’s sleeping. 

Abed: we were watching behaving badly 2014 but it was almost painful to watch. i might switch it to inspector spacetime

Troy: *laughing emoji* 4.4 stars on IMDb, that’s rough.

Abed rubbed his face, looking down at his phone and then looking over at Jeff. Who was now completely passed out, his mouth open and the side of his face smashed against the sofa arm. It felt so right talking to Troy again but Abed could already sense that there was something different, something that had changed between them. He opened his messages up again and clicked on the chat with Troy

Abed: haha, yeah. 

Abed: I got your letter

Abed: do you have time tomorrow morning? 

Troy is typing… 

Troy: Yes, of course!!

Abed: ok. my place? 

Troy: How about we get coffee first.

Abed: i have coffee…

Troy: Okay, send me your address *smiling emojis, thumbs up emoji* 

Abed sent Troy his location and sighed to himself, at least he had the night to worry. His phone dinged. 

Troy: Can’t wait, see you around 9 dude. 

Abed sent “:)” back and threw his phone onto the sofa, it slid off and hit the floor. The sound woke Jeff up, which Abed recognized by the groan he made. 

“I texted Troy.” they announced, picking their phone up and turning off the TV “I’ll set up the guest room, unless you’re content with sleeping here.” Jeff groaned “Fuck no, I’m too old to be sleeping on couches, help me up.” 

Abed hoisted their friend up and Jeff quickly pulled him into an embrace “Whatever shit happens tomorrow, I hope you know I’m here for you.” Abed felt Jeff’s hand squeeze his shoulder before he padded off to the guest room. 

He sighed to himself and switched the lights off, heading to his own room to think. Troy had been such an important part of his life for 5 years, Abed had felt understood and loved. It was blissful and comforting. When Troy left, he felt like everything he had relied upon had been uprooted, he struggled with keeping a grasp upon reality, slipping in and out of reality. And then he started dating Rachel, an excuse to forget about his last relationship and to redirect his energy. Once they broke up, Abed was left with himself again. Annie tried her best to help, she even offered to help him find a boyfriend but eventually Abed had just dug himself into a deeper hole than she could help with. 

After he moved to LA, he met new people and one of them was Mik. Abed and Mik hit it off immediately, Mik was an artist and a therapist, they spent 10 years in Portugal and loved crime shows. Mik was the first non-binary lesbian that Abed had met, he adored them and their friendship became a quasi therapy for Abed. They never officially called it that, but meeting twice a week to discuss Abed’s neurodivergence and mental illness was defiantly therapy. Mik always ended up with $100 in their PayPal after their meeting, and as long as it was never in a official capacity, Abed would continue to meet up with them.

They discussed Troy and Abed’s connection and Mik suggested that Troy was dealing with compulsory heterosexuality. Abed cried after that session, he thought about how he would never get the chance to express his feelings to Troy. Mik suggested that Abed was still in love with Troy, Abed told them that he didn’t feel romantic love for people anymore. Abed felt like a liar. 

Three years since he had seen troy, three years since they had hugged and had decided to become clones. Three years since Abed had seen the man he loved.


	2. This music's the only thing keeping the peace when I'm falling to pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troy returns, Abed comes out and announcements are made. Smiling thru the pain

Abed had slept mostly through the night, a few bumps and lumps but when they woke up their mind felt clouded. They couldn’t stop thinking about all the possibilities, what could go wrong and how they could fuck it up. The sun was peaking through their black-out curtains, illuminating the inspector spacetime poster on the back of their door. Abed dragged themself out of bed and pulled on a robe, they grabbed their phone off his side table and headed to the kitchen. Jeff had left a box of donuts and a note on the table. Abed grabbed a sugar glazed donut and read the note.

“Abed, good luck today. Enjoy your donuts. Don't forget about Wednesday or B will kill both of u. Jeff” 

Abed snorted, assuming donuts was a euphemism for Troy. He finished off his Donut before putting on a pot of coffee, the microwave read 8:14, so he still had some time before Troy arrived. Abed headed back to his room to change, take his meds and brush his teeth. He opted for a green and blue button up over his Daredevil t shirt, he slipped on a pair of black khaki’s and then grabbed a pair of dino assorted sock. He moved to his bathroom next, his meds were waiting for him on the counter.

He screwed off the lids, shaking each pill onto his palm and then throwing them back into his mouth, swallowing them dry. He gagged to himself and then stuck his mouth under his faucet to wash them down. Abed looked at himself in the mirror, his hair was a mess, and he looked exhausted, great. He grabbed a comb to smooth out his waves, but it just made him look 12. 

“Hey Troy, you look great!” Abed forced a smile as he spoke into the mirror, god that felt so fake. He put on his Don Draper and smirked “Hey, how’re you doing there?” He groaned again, he picked up his tooth brush, applied toothpaste and switched on his electric toothbrush. He sat on the edge of his tub, browsing his phone while brushing. His phone read 8: 30. He had time. Abed lost himself in his thoughts and by the time he was done brushing his teeth he had 15 minutes to go. 

They rushed downstairs, turned the kitchen TV onto their downloads and picked a season 3 episode of Scrubs. They poured themself a cup of coffee and ate another donut as they waited. 

They took their last bite as the doorbell buzzed. 8:52. He was early.

Abed took a deep breath and walked through the living room, passed the door to the garage and to the front door. They closed their eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. They were ready.

Abed opened the door. 

Troy was there. He looked good, much more like a man than when he left. His hair was longer, and he had grown a beard. All Abed could see was his smile though.

“Hey Abed!” Troy offered his hand to the older man, Abed’s hands assumed their position… Their hands met twice in rapid succession, and they tapped their own chests. After the handshake was done, Troy took his hand back but Abed was just staring at him, his eyes slightly widened and mouth agape. 

“So, what about that coffee?” Troy chuckled, stepping inside the house. Abed nodded and shut the door, it slammed shut, and he winced. “Sorry, yeah. Follow me.” Abed walked back to this kitchen quickly, he turned around since he couldn’t hear steps behind him and saw that Troy had just slipped off his boots. Their eyes met and Abed froze again. Quickly shaking himself out of it he turned around the corner and headed straight to the coffee pot. 

He took out half-and-half from the fridge and sugar from the cabinet, he poured two mugs full. One was slightly less full than the other, he opened the half-and-half and poured it in, watching the two colors mix. Then he dropped in two cubes of sugar into the cup and then placed it on the kitchen island. He dropped a few cubes into his own cup and picked it up, his eyes on the edge of the mug to avoid Troy’s eyes. 

“Thanks, so… It’s cool that your film making is getting big.” Troy cracked an attempt at small talk. Abed hummed and sat on the high chair on one side of the island, Troy sat on the other one. The two were across from each other, their hands rested on their mugs and the sound of the fridge buzzing was echoing in Abed’s head. 

Troy hummed and Abed looked up at him, their eyes met and Abed could feel their fingers clench around the mug. Troy looked so radiant, his beard was a beautiful addition to his features and his hair was so big. His face looked like he had been facing the sun for the past 3 years, which it had been. The smile lines around his eyes were accentuated and the tiniest freckles littered his cheeks and forehead. Abed had missed seeing him so much, his heart had been stopped for the time that Troy was gone. They had been frozen until now and now that Troy was back, they felt all those stupid emotions flooding back. 

“Hey, so. How about we talk? I mean there’s probably a lot of stuff we should talk about, plus I want to tell you about what I learned!” Troy announced, his eyes on Abed’s. 

Abed watched Troy’s mouth move, but the words didn't register to them, what did was the glint of silver that moved when he spoke. It was a tongue piercing, holy shit. Their Troy had gotten a piercing. He was terrified of needles. This wasn’t their Troy anymore. “You have a tongue piercing.” They stated, cocking their head slightly to observe Troy’s reaction. 

Troy’s lips spread into a smile, and he stuck his tongue out “Yep! I got it in Japan… and speaking about Japan-” 

Abed shook their head “I thought you hated needles? This is a very strange character development.” 

Troy smiled “Yeah, I definitely was but y’know… things change when you’re on the ocean, plus there are scarier things than needles if you consider that we only have discovered 5 percent of the ocean. I missed hearing you talk about your movies and shit, Levar didn’t have much of pop culture knowledge, he did have a knack for languages though. It really helped us out in some tough situations.”

“Yeah, like the pirates?” Abed heard the venom in his own words, but he couldn't help himself. Seven months ago it was on the news that pirates had gotten a hold of Troy’s boat, they had been enemies of Hawthorne wipes and heard of the whole ordeal. They wanted Troy’s money, as expected. Nothing ended up happening, as far as Abed knew but the part that stung the most was the two days of silence after the news talked about how they had been returned. Annie got a call, Jeff got one as well but Abed got nothing. A near death experience, and it resulted in not a peep from Troy. 

“Hey, come on. I already explained this to you in the text! And anyway, I told Annie to tell you. It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway, nothing happened, it was just a bit dirty.” Troy chuckled but Abed’s face stayed unimpressed. 

“I can’t do this, how can you act like nothing happened?” Abed put his coffee cup down and stood up, he needed to move. “Three years Troy! I tried to get a hold of you every day, I had to beg Jeff to give me your number and even then you never replied.” He was pacing now, teeth clenched and fists balled up. “Not once, you could have told me. I would have understood-” He felt his breath hitch and Troy’s sympathetic eyes on him.

The younger man stood up and started walking towards his friend “I wanted to tell you, but you would have found a way to convince me. You were right about the homing pigeon, man-” 

Abed cut him off “I’m not a man.” 

Troy stopped in his tracks and stared at his taller friend. “What?” 

Abed felt their heart swell, it seemed like every sound in the kitchen had been amplified to 100, they could feel their blood pumping, and then they spoke again. “I am nonbinary trans masculine, I use he him and they them pronouns, I'd prefer it if you respected that.” 

“Okay, that’s all good dude, fuck sorry.” He rubbed his face. “What about your name, what terms should I use, does Annie know?” Troy was getting closer to Abed, who was still panicking. 

“I am satisfied with my name, most terms are fine but man, girl, gendered terms like that are not good. I can let you know if something you use is bad. Also yeah, Annie knows, everyone knows. Britta was the first person to know but not voluntarily.” Abed took a deep breath and released his fists, fidgeting his fingers around to release the tension from clenching them. 

“Abed, thank you for telling me, and I am sorry I upset you.” Troy placed his hand on Abed’s arm and squeezed it. 

Abed tensed up, it wasn’t from the surprise of Troy’s touch but from the warmth that Abed felt in their chest. They pulled their lip through their teeth, the raw skin they had been chewing on sent a burst of pain through when their teeth hit it. They were brought back to reality, Troy’s eyes were on them, and it seemed like he was worried, Abed wasn’t sure, it was either that or sad. 

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” Abed asked, he didn’t want to focus on himself at all, so he directed Troy's attention away.

The young man nodded and led Abed back to the table where they sat down, Troy took a sip of his coffee and then laid both hands on the table. 

“I’m getting married, and I wanted to ask you to be my best man- well i guess we have to change that, best person?” He smiled at his friend who was just staring at him with wide eyes.

Abeds mind exploded as soon as the word “married” reached it. Troy has a girlfriend, Troy is getting married, Troy wants Abed to attend the wedding.

They pulled themselves together and forced a smiled and held their hand out to Troy “Congratulations, I would be honored.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it 's getting angsty soon. Abed has learned to fake his emotions way better to suit his friends situations. also learning to use he they pronouns interchangeably


End file.
